Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Wednesday, December 17
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
6:30 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
6-4,1-0CUSA
68
vs
67
Kennesaw State
8-3,0-1CUSA
1
2
F
Kennesaw St.
31
36
67
Middle Tenn.
40
28
68
Middle Tennessee "Lands" a 68-67 win over Kennesaw State behind Kamari Lands career night
12/17/2025 9:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Kamari Lands was a highly-touted prospect coming out of high school, starting his career at Louisville before moving to Arizona State. While the development was slow, it's Middle Tennessee (6-4, 1-0 CUSA) that has reaped the benefits of Lands' growth, culminating tonight for the senior with a career-high 24 points and nine rebounds in a 68-67 win over Kennesaw State to open up Conference USA play.
Middle Tennessee was able to work its way to the line early, sinking eight of the first 10 free throw attempts to jump out to an early 17-11 lead in the first half. CUSA Preseason Player of the Year Simeon Cottle found himself in foul trouble early, picking up three in the game's first 10 minutes. The Blue Raiders held Cottle, the conference's leading scorer, to just one point in the first half.
Middle Tennessee was active defensively in the first half, holding the Owls to just 31 points, the lowest in a half all season. The Blue Raiders stayed hot at the line, sinking 12-of-14 first half free throws to build a 40-31 lead. Middle Tennessee forced 11 Kennesaw State turnovers and scored 15 points off those turnovers. Lands led the Blue Raiders with 12 points and five rebounds at the break while sophomore guard Jahvin Carter also reached 10 points by halftime. Torey Alston had five first half rebounds and was four-of-five from the charity stripe.
Neither team came off the blocks quickly to begin the second half, with the Blue Raiders hitting three out of their first 10 shots while Kennesaw State shot 4-of-18 in the first 10 minutes of the half.
Kennesaw State cut the lead to within one with less than a minute to play. With 28 seconds left, Alston grabbed a huge offensive rebound to prompt a Kennesaw State timeout. With less than five seconds left, Simeon Cottle charged down the floor and was stopped by Carter prior to the Owls getting one final look, an air ball by Braedan Lue, to end it.
Outside of Lands' career night, Alston blocked a career-high six shots, the best blocking performance of any conference player this year, while tallying 10 points with nine rebounds. Sean Smith had six points and four assists with four steals in 24 minutes off the bench.
Nick McDevitt:
"That was a great ballgame and I'm proud of our guys," said Middle Tennessee State Head Coach Nick McDevitt. "We were able to turn them over a lot in the first half. We only forced two in the second half, and with that you saw what they were capable of offensively. Our guys did a great job guarding both on and off the ball. They averaged 97 per game and they only scored 67. We needed every play that happened. We had some other guys step up. Kamari Lands was big not just with his 24 points, but also the nine rebounds."
Kamari Lands:
"When we talked about preparing for him, we knew that they liked to get downhill, get to the line and grab rebounds," Lands said. "They did all of that and they fought hard to the end. We really had to grind this one out and I was proud of everybody. (Playing) multiple defenses is hard to prepare for, which is why we do it, and it helped us for sure. I wanted to bounce back tonight coming off the loss 10 days ago, so it was good to get back in the groove. I'm on a mission to play good for my team so we can win a (title)."
By the Numbers
4: Games in a row in which Jahvin Carter has been a double-digit scorer after a 10-point game tonight.
31: Points for Kennesaw State in the first half is the lowest points scored in a half all season.
24: Career-high in points for Kamari Lands. Lands also had a career-high nine rebounds.
6: Career-high in blocked shots by Torey Alston. As a team, Middle Tennessee blocked a season-high 11 shots, the first time they've blocked 10 or more in a game since 2023 against UAB.
Up Next
Middle Tennessee will remain at home this week, capping the week off with a 1:00 game against Cumberland University Sunday.
Middle Tennessee was able to work its way to the line early, sinking eight of the first 10 free throw attempts to jump out to an early 17-11 lead in the first half. CUSA Preseason Player of the Year Simeon Cottle found himself in foul trouble early, picking up three in the game's first 10 minutes. The Blue Raiders held Cottle, the conference's leading scorer, to just one point in the first half.
Middle Tennessee was active defensively in the first half, holding the Owls to just 31 points, the lowest in a half all season. The Blue Raiders stayed hot at the line, sinking 12-of-14 first half free throws to build a 40-31 lead. Middle Tennessee forced 11 Kennesaw State turnovers and scored 15 points off those turnovers. Lands led the Blue Raiders with 12 points and five rebounds at the break while sophomore guard Jahvin Carter also reached 10 points by halftime. Torey Alston had five first half rebounds and was four-of-five from the charity stripe.
Neither team came off the blocks quickly to begin the second half, with the Blue Raiders hitting three out of their first 10 shots while Kennesaw State shot 4-of-18 in the first 10 minutes of the half.
Kennesaw State cut the lead to within one with less than a minute to play. With 28 seconds left, Alston grabbed a huge offensive rebound to prompt a Kennesaw State timeout. With less than five seconds left, Simeon Cottle charged down the floor and was stopped by Carter prior to the Owls getting one final look, an air ball by Braedan Lue, to end it.
Outside of Lands' career night, Alston blocked a career-high six shots, the best blocking performance of any conference player this year, while tallying 10 points with nine rebounds. Sean Smith had six points and four assists with four steals in 24 minutes off the bench.
Nick McDevitt:
"That was a great ballgame and I'm proud of our guys," said Middle Tennessee State Head Coach Nick McDevitt. "We were able to turn them over a lot in the first half. We only forced two in the second half, and with that you saw what they were capable of offensively. Our guys did a great job guarding both on and off the ball. They averaged 97 per game and they only scored 67. We needed every play that happened. We had some other guys step up. Kamari Lands was big not just with his 24 points, but also the nine rebounds."
Kamari Lands:
"When we talked about preparing for him, we knew that they liked to get downhill, get to the line and grab rebounds," Lands said. "They did all of that and they fought hard to the end. We really had to grind this one out and I was proud of everybody. (Playing) multiple defenses is hard to prepare for, which is why we do it, and it helped us for sure. I wanted to bounce back tonight coming off the loss 10 days ago, so it was good to get back in the groove. I'm on a mission to play good for my team so we can win a (title)."
By the Numbers
4: Games in a row in which Jahvin Carter has been a double-digit scorer after a 10-point game tonight.
31: Points for Kennesaw State in the first half is the lowest points scored in a half all season.
24: Career-high in points for Kamari Lands. Lands also had a career-high nine rebounds.
6: Career-high in blocked shots by Torey Alston. As a team, Middle Tennessee blocked a season-high 11 shots, the first time they've blocked 10 or more in a game since 2023 against UAB.
Up Next
Middle Tennessee will remain at home this week, capping the week off with a 1:00 game against Cumberland University Sunday.
Team Stats
KennSt
MTSU
FG%
.365
.339
3FG%
.150
.273
FT%
.818
.750
RB
44
39
TO
13
14
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
6
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
8
Players Mentioned
F
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/ Men's BasketballG
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